


and they'd find us in a week

by sun_fm (traceylane)



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Camping, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-19
Updated: 2020-05-29
Packaged: 2021-02-13 02:56:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21487180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/traceylane/pseuds/sun_fm
Summary: “We planned a vacation with our friends but everyone bailed at the last minute so now it’s just us.”--Daichi and Suga go on a camping trip (planned) alone (unplanned) and realize it’s very possible they’re in love.
Relationships: Sawamura Daichi/Sugawara Koushi
Comments: 36
Kudos: 140





	1. Monday

“What do you mean you can’t go?”

He hadn’t meant to sound so frustrated, but this was the fourth time this week one of his teammates had cancelled on him. The break started tomorrow, and they were supposed to leave in the morning. And now he could hear Asahi’s fear over the phone. “Sorry, Daichi… my mom got into an accident, and—”

_ Shit. _He really, really hadn’t meant to sound so frustrated. “Oh, God. I-is she okay?”

“Yes! She’s fine. Well, no, she broke her arm and needs help around the house. I’m really sorry.”

“No— what? Don’t apologize. Of course it’s fine. You should definitely stay and take care of your family.”

“Uh, okay. Thanks, captain. I’ll see you in a week?”

“Yeah. I’ll see you then. Rest up, Asahi.”

Daichi hung up, locked his phone, and rested his forehead on top of the desk in his room. So, Asahi wasn’t coming. Nishinoya had been invited to an individual training camp. Hinata, Kageyama, and Tanaka were studying for and taking remedial exams. Ennoshita was attending his brother’s wedding. Kinoshita was on vacation in the US with his parents. Narita had to work at his family’s store. Tsukishima said that camping “wasn’t his thing” and couldn’t be forced, especially without pressure from Tanaka and Nishinoya, and even if he wouldn’t say it outright Yamaguchi wasn’t going to go if Tsukishima wasn’t going to go. No one had dared ask for specifics from Shimizu as to why she couldn’t go, and to make Yachi go without her there would be cruel and unusual. Ukai and Takeda hadn’t planned to go in the first place, since they had work and the trip was meant for team bonding anyway. 

So that left…

Daichi started up a text message to his vice-captain, and then after a short period of paralysis during which he realized he had no idea how to move forward, he called him. 

Sugawara, ever reliable, picked up in the middle of the second ring.

“Hey, Daichi! Are you done packing? I just finished.” 

He sounded so excited it took a moment for Daichi to find his words. “Hey, Suga. Listen—Asahi just called me and said he couldn’t go tomorrow.”

“... You’re kidding.”

“No. His mom got into an accident.”

Suga’s voice was gentle and sympathetic. Asahi should have called him instead. “Oh, no. Is she all right?”

“She’s not in the hospital or anything, but it sounds like she’s going to need his help taking care of things at home during the break.”

“Of course. That’s really nice of him.”

“Yeah. So, because of that, um… I just realized, we’re the only ones who can still make it tomorrow. For the camping trip.”

Suga didn’t miss a beat, like Daichi had just called to ask him to pick up an extra bag of ice. “Oh, okay. Well, since Asahi was supposed to be driving, we can take my car instead. I can pick you up in the morning so you don’t have to go all the way to school.”

Daichi blinked. “Er… Suga, we don’t have to go, if you don’t want. I mean, it would’ve been cool to end up with a thing just for us third years, but I don’t think two people in the woods really counts a team bonding activity.”

Quiet on the other end of the line. Daichi started feeling nervous; he was a people person, sure, but he’d always hated talking over the phone. It weakened his presence, and Suga was definitely scarier when you couldn’t see him. 

“... Do you not want to go?”

“No! I mean, yes, I’d love to go. But… you don’t think it’d be weird?” 

“Weird?”

Something about Suga’s tone sent a wave of heat crawling up Daichi’s neck. “I mean, you know. We originally planned this for over a dozen people.”

“Well, you already rented the tent, right?”

Daichi sighed and ran a hand down his face. “Yeah.”

“You said it was nonrefundable.”

“Yeah, I did.”

“And you borrowed the grill and the cooler from your uncle already, right?”

“Yeah.”

“And you’re packed for tomorrow, too?”

Daichi looked over at the half empty bag sitting unzipped on his bed. The duffel that he normally used to hold his uniform and his gear had been repurposed; he’d just tossed in a flashlight over his cold weather clothes when Asahi had called. 

“... Yeah, pretty much.”

“Then why shouldn’t we go?”

It really was as simple and rational as that, but there was still something churning in his chest that he wished he could use as a reason not to go.

And then, as if on cue, Suga started sniffling dramatically. “Or is it m-me? Do you n-not want to g-go with m-me?”

Daichi rolled his eyes. “Shut up, Suga.”

Suga wailed girlishly on the other end of the line. “Sawamura senpai… Suga-chan just wanted to spend time with you…”

“Shut _ up _, Suga.” Suga’s laugh was airy and light. It reminded Daichi of windchimes. The knots in his stomach relaxed, and he rubbed a hand up and down his jaw, just noticing he had been clenching his teeth.

Then Suga went on, his voice sincere. “I get it, though. I know that it would have been really fun for everybody to be there together. I know that’s what you intended when you first started making plans for the break, and I know that you worked really hard coordinating everything, and I know it’s frustrating that it feels like all of that effort is going to waste and nobody cares. But I care, and I appreciate your effort, and I think that we can still have fun! What do you think?”

Daichi paused in the quiet after Suga’s question. He always forgot he was as good at dealing with Daichi’s stress off the court as he was on it. And every time, it felt like this, like a cold drink of water after a long day in the summer heat. 

“... Daichi?”

“How do you know exactly what to say even when you’re talking over the phone?”

Suga laughed again.

“No, I mean it. _ Exactly _what to say. It’s scary,” Daichi said. 

“So I’ll pick you up tomorrow?”

“Yeah. Thank you for, um…” He dropped his voice. “For still wanting to go with me.”

“Huh?”

“I said thank you for driving. I can pitch in for gas.”

“Oh, that’s okay! We’ll just drop by the store and you can pay for the snacks instead!”

“... Wait, hold—”

“Good night, captain! See you in the morning. 7AM sharp, okay?” There was a click, and Suga was gone. 

This time, Daichi put his phone flat down on his chest and leaned back in his chair. He watched the slow spinning of his ceiling fan, listened to the crickets chirping outside of his open window, shivered from the night breeze causing his curtains to billow inward.

He wondered if it would be all right, just the two of them. They saw each other plenty; they were in the same class, walked the same way to and from school, studied the same things, usually at the same time, went to the same practices, and stood on the same court, even if Suga wasn’t always in the rotation. Sometimes they’d grab breakfast on Sundays, or have dinner at each other’s houses, or catch a movie they’d both wanted to see anyway…

Daichi smoothed his thumb over the newly formed creases between his brows. So, he and Suga already spent a lot of time together— it was a given. They were good friends. Best friends, possibly. But this would be an entire week, not just alone, but _ alone _alone. 

_ A week with Suga. _ He got up and finished packing, setting the duffel at the foot of his bed, his volleyball settled between its handles. _ A week with Suga. _ He brushed his teeth, closed his window, crawled under his covers. _ A week with Suga. _Lying there, he found he was wide awake, his head swimming and his heart racing.

_ Stop. You’re worried about nothing, _he told his heart, clenching the shirt fabric over his chest in his fist.

_ You’re not worried, you idiot, _ it said back. _ You’re excited. _

Daichi shut his eyes tight, and willed his body to sleep. 

—

“You don’t think it suits me, right?”

“Hm?”

They were on the highway the next morning while the sun was still low in the sky. Suga was holding the omusubi his mother had made them for breakfast in one hand and driving with the other, going a speed that Daichi was sure was illegal.

“My car!”

It’s not that it didn’t suit him. It’s just that when Daichi first heard Suga had gotten his license, he hadn’t imagined he’d someday be tearing into his driveway in a lifted pickup, first thing in the morning, and cheerfully slinging his bag into the truck bed.

“I think it matches the inner you,” Daichi said solemnly. He rolled the volleyball at his feet back and forth with his heel; Suga’s was on his lap, because neither of them had bothered to pretend they wouldn’t feel like playing.

“I’m not sure what that’s supposed to mean, but I’ll take it as a compliment.”

“Please do,” Daichi said, popping the last bit of rice into his mouth. “You said you wanted to get food before we go to the campsite?”

“Why, Daichi. Thank you for reminding me.” Suga jerked the wheel and made a lane change.

“Holy hell—Suga, you’re supposed to use your signal, or at least go a little slower, don’t just cut across—”

“I’m sorry, Daichi, I forgot—which one of us has their license? I mean, between the two of us?”

Daichi clammed up, then slumped back in his chair and muttered something. Suga leaned in, foot still on the gas, hand cupped around his ear. “Hm? Say that again?”

“You do.”

“Oh! So me, not you?”

“Yes. Although I don’t know why anyone in their right mind would ever sit in a car with you behind the wheel and then let you back on the road—” 

“Here’s our exit,” Suga said, quick to cut him off. He veered onto the off-ramp and, thank the gods, slowed down.

— 

The automatic door pinged when they entered the market. Suga picked a basket from the stack, and Daichi held his hand out to carry it for him without thinking about it. They bowed politely to the cashier who greeted them as they walked in. 

“Real food first,” Suga murmured, scanning the aisle markers. 

“Was that a reminder for me, or yourself?” Daichi wobbled slightly when Suga unceremoniously dropped a ten pound bag of rice into the basket.

“It was for the team, but I just remembered we don't have a dozen bottomless pits to throw food into for a week. Now I just have one. These, or these?” Suga held up two sets of dried buckwheat noodles for Daichi to decide between. 

“The thinner ones.”

“Yeah, that's what I thought, too.” He tossed them in, and they continued through the store. 

“You talk about them like you're missing them already.”

“I am,” Suga said absently, lingering in front of the vinegar, and when he turned again with the chosen bottle he was smiling. “However, if I had to do this with just one of them, I’m glad it's you. Don't tell anyone,” he said, finger to his lips.

There it was again. That heaving feeling in Daichi’s chest. “You only say that because it _ is _me.”

Suga laughed as they started down a new aisle. “You can think that if you want. But if it were someone else I probably couldn't have gotten over the feeling that I was taking care of them the entire time. Which I don't mind!” Suga amended, catching the weird, uninterpretable look Daichi was giving him. “I do care about them, a lot. But it's nice, you know? To not have to feel like that for a little while. Do you think these skewers are okay? They're cheaper.”

“Get the longer ones,” Daichi said, his throat suddenly dry. “Or you'll be grilling your hands, too.”

Suga tossed them into the basket and messed up Daichi’s hair, oh so familiar. “See? That's what I mean.”

Daichi swatted his hand away, as always. “But you do take care of me,” he said, trying hard not to sound too insistent. 

“And you take care of me back. That's how we work.”

Daichi wondered if the store had turned off the air conditioning, because it was getting a little too warm in there. Suga walked ahead of him and went on shopping, blissfully preoccupied.

Daichi slapped his hand against his cheek, hard enough to sting, and followed him. 

—

Their campsite was on a plateau, overlooking a small, green valley hidden within the mountain range. The sun had passed its highest point by the time they arrived, and now it was sitting on the horizon, pierced like a berry on a thorn by the highest peak they could see to the west. The last campsite they’d seen was from the car two miles down the mountain.

Before they unpacked they stood on the edge of the cliff, a good ways from where they’d parked, and looked down to where the trees looked like cut stalks of broccoli and the streams looked like glittering strands of polished wire.

Daichi whistled. “Well… we can’t play anywhere near here.”

“It’s beautiful,” Suga said quietly. Daichi looked at him, holding up his hand like a visor. Suga’s eyes were wide and shiny beneath long silver lashes, like new copper coins, swallowing up the scenery. He watched the way Suga’s shoulders rose and fell, how his chest opened up to the sky as his lungs filled with cool, clear air. “This is amazing, Daichi! I’m really glad we’re here.”

Daichi blinked, his thoughts suddenly scrambled. “Yeah. Yeah, me too! Let’s, uh, set up the tent, huh?” He clapped Suga on the shoulder and headed back towards the car. For some reason, though, he stopped halfway there to wait, to turn around just enough to watch Suga finish taking in his surroundings. From this far away, from this angle, he seemed to glow. 

“The air’s thin up here,” he said when Suga rejoined him. “You feel like you’re gonna pass out yet?”

Suga just bumped their shoulders together, too excited to have the last word.

— 

Putting up the tent was a bit of an ordeal. They knew what a tent was supposed to look like, they were strong enough to curve the frame into shape and hammer in the stakes, and relative to their endearingly stupid teammates they were pretty competent at most things like this. But the tent, evidently, had been manufactured in hell. 

“This pole expands, Daichi,” Suga said, trying to decipher the instructions. He held up one of the long, angled rods they had tossed into the “Not Sure What This One’s For” pile. Daichi had to duck to avoid getting wacked in the face. 

“It expands even _ more _? Who is this tent even for? Giraffes?”

“Oh, I think you have to insert it parallel to the ground.” Suga looked at the rod, then back at the instructions. He flipped the piece of paper, then rotated it. “Or maybe not?”

“Let's just dig a hole and sleep in that. Or we can find a cave someplace.”

“No, no, we’re close!”

They were not close.

“We’ve been at this for almost an hour, and we just figured out which one of these is the tent, and which one is the rain cover.” Daichi lifted up two heavy pieces of nylon. 

“Well, we’d better pick up the pace if we want to pitch it before it gets dark. I heard there are mountain lions up here.”

Daichi glared at him. “... No. You absolutely did not.”

“I didn't,” Suga admitted, smiling. “But I didn't hear there _ aren’t _ mountain lions, either. Hey!” He dodged the tent pole Daichi threw at him, from the “Short” pile. “That would've hurt!”

Daichi’s reflexes saved his shins. “Oi! Then you don't throw them, either!” 

The sun had sunk below the mountain by the time they finally got it right, and they stood proudly at dusk in front of their ‘door’, shivering silhouettes still in their athletic shorts. 

“Do you think that would have been easier with the rest of the team?” Suga asked. 

“Nah. Would've been the same, maybe longer. Except Hinata and Kageyama would've started throwing things first.” Daichi put on one of the black jersey jackets he’d retrieved from the car and tossed Suga the other. 

“I'm starting to understand why they get so rowdy. It's kind of fun.” Suga did up his jacket halfway, and stopped when the zipper stuck. He tried again, twice, until Daichi was in front of him, taking the tab between his fingers and pulling it, slowly, all the way to the top. 

Their eyes locked as Daichi’s hand reached Suga’s chin, and he drew it back like he'd been shocked. “Sorry,” he said, “mine gets jammed like that, too.”

“... Thanks,” Suga said quietly. His face was neutral, though his mouth was hidden behind the high collar.

Something was weird about the moment that followed. Not awkward, but… tight. That feeling again in Daichi’s ribcage, like someone was bringing a simmering pot to a boil. 

But Suga turned away and the moment passed. “Let's get dinner started. I'm starving.”

Daichi’s stomach growled at the mention of a meal. “Right.”

— 

One thing that set the campsite apart from the rest of the wilderness was, thankfully, a fire pit. They used old notebook paper—“I hope I don’t need these study guides anymore.” “It’s fine, you can just copy mine.”—and crumpled up ad spreads from dated issues of Volleyball Monthly to get the flame started.

“Have you made rice without a cooker before?” Daichi asked, watching Suga set the pot he had brought over the grate in the pit, filled with rice washed in the water from the spigot they had found nearby. 

“Yeah, it just might take a little longer.”

Daichi’s stomach growled again, and Suga laughed. “I know. We didn't time all of this very well.”

But the next hour passed easily; they set up the grill and cooked the meat they had bought for yakiniku, and as the night crept in they played a controlled, claustrophobic game of pepper, just close enough to the fire— “This is a terrible idea.” “You can always let the ball drop.” “You first.”—to be able to see in front of them. 

Dinner was, as it usually is when you have to wait long enough for it, amazing.

“You're not eating enough salad,” Suga said, depositing a bunch of red lettuce onto Daichi’s food. He swiped a piece of beef from him, too, and his eyes flashed when Daichi opened his mouth to talk back. “And if you call me ‘Mom’ or something, I'll toss your plate off the cliff.”

Daichi laughed and obliged, wrapping his next bite in a lettuce leaf. “I was just going to say how touched I am that you're so concerned about my health.”

They were sitting on the log next to the firepit, knees knocking, because it would be weird to sit too far apart with just the two of them, right? There were no picnic tables, and they hadn't brought any chairs. So it was the two of them on the log, thighs touching, giggling about nothing and stealing bites off of each other’s chopsticks and watching the smoke waft up over their heads and disappear. 

—

It was later while he was brushing his teeth at the water spout that Daichi realized something. He rinsed out his mouth and stared up at the sky while he pulled up the bottom of his t-shirt to dry his face. There were clouds framing the half moon. 

“What is it?” 

Suga was behind him, already washed up and changed. They'd put out the fire for the night, and without the crackling flames the universe was so quiet.

“I think this is the first time in a while I've felt genuinely… relaxed.”

“... Really?”

“Yeah. I can't worry about the team, because they're not here, and I can't worry about practice or games because we’re nowhere near a volleyball court, and I can't worry about school because we’re not at school. It's kind of freaky. I just feel… calm.”

“If it means anything, you usually do a good job at looking calm, even though you're one of the most stressed out people I know.” 

Daichi turned, ready with a comeback that died in his mouth. Suga looked scrubbed and loose, so soft he was almost fuzzy at the edges. His sweatpants were low on his hips and one of his too-long sleeves was slipping off his shoulder. The hair that usually fell over his forehead was clipped back with two thin, black pins that formed an ‘X’ on the top of his head. 

He was glad he’d been rendered speechless, because Suga kept talking through a yawn. “I'm glad you're finally getting rest, though. Are you going to sleep, now?” 

He realized that Suga was _ waiting _ for him, waiting with a flashlight in the cold night air for Daichi so they could _ go to bed. _Any serenity Daichi had been feeling was washed away by another wave of that feverish, uneasy feeling.

“You… you can go ahead without me, you know?”

“What, and let you get eaten by the mountain lions? That's just disloyal.” 

Daichi scoffed, and together they walked back to the tent that they realized was too big while sitting in the middle of it, cocooned in their sleeping bags.

“I thought it'd be warmer,” Daichi said, shivering himself now, too.

“Well, it's a twelve-person tent. I think the more people inside, the more heat it’s supposed to trap.”

“Oh. So we’re screwed.” 

Eventually, though, Daichi grabbed extra blankets from the truck—thready ones, meant for picnicking—and they covered themselves with what was essentially a deconstructed quilt made up of all the clothing they had brought. 

“Good night, Daichi.”

“Night, Suga.”

They faced each other in the dark, huddled under a pile of pants and sweaters. But Suga was the one to turn around first. 

_ Well, why wouldn’t he? _

Daichi flipped onto his other shoulder. It took him too long to fall asleep. He blamed it on the cold and the hard ground.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had started this before Daisuga week, but I wanted to get the first part up because the prompt for today ("Journey") fit really well. Also, happy Daisuga week! It came during the most hectic weeks I've had in a while but I plan to post an update/the remainder of the fic by next Tuesday.
> 
> Anyway I like seeing the boys get to be... well boys LMAO so this fic is their little escape. Please let me know what you think and thaaAAANK YOU for reading so far!!


	2. Tuesday

Daichi’s temperature situation the next morning was unusual. When the birds chirped him awake at a time that he knew, without having to look at a clock, was disgustingly early, his back was freezing but his front was warm and snug. He kept his eyes closed to protest the reality of no longer being asleep and pressed further into the heat source in front of him. Whatever it was, he wished it would just wrap around him and never let go. 

“Mmf…”

That was… a familiar voice. Where was he again?

The memory shattered through him like a baseball through a window. His first sight of the day was a nest of silver cowlicks, then the curve of a shoulder he recognized, and finally the dip of a waist with an arm around it that looked a lot like  _ his _ arm. 

Daichi flinched, and then he was on his knees, his lower half still sitting in his sleeping bag. So. During the night, he must’ve crawled out halfway, breached the eight inches or so of space they had sensibly left between each other, and…

Suga shifted slightly, still not awake, but obviously feeling the effects of not having Daichi behind him. He tried to pull up his own sleeping bag—it, too, had slipped down to his waist overnight— and when it wouldn’t give, groped around for a stray jacket and wrapped it around his now chilly shoulders. 

With as little noise as possible, Daichi left the tent, slipped on his running shoes, and stood in the crispness and clarity of the outside world. It was dewy and brisk and so different from the scene they’d seen the previous afternoon. He could see his breath coming out in puffs in front of him. Those birds, those damn birds, were still tweeting away, hopping between branches in the trees that enclosed the path to the forest opposite the cliff. He supposed he should be grateful; he wasn’t sure what he would’ve done if Suga had been the one to wake up first. 

He followed the birds, rubbing his hands up and down his arms for warmth, and ended up at the start of a trail—a circle 5.2 miles long, according to the sign.

So Daichi ran, and then ran some more, focusing on the not unpleasant burning in his calves and the stretch of his hamstrings instead of imagining drowsy, pliant vice-captains curled up in his arms and rubbing the sleep from their eyes and asking  _ What’s for breakfast, Daichi?  _

Shit. Breakfast. It was probably a good idea that he hadn’t left the fire unattended, but he could’ve washed the rice or set out the miso or something. What was going on with him? When had he become so inconsiderate?

The run that was meant to be stress-relieving had him wound up by the time he arrived back at camp, where he spotted Suga crouching by the fire, using a long stick to stir at the logs and wearing one of their picnic blankets like a cloak. The rice was already boiling.

“Sorry,” Daichi said immediately, “I didn’t start breakfast.”

But Suga was already smiling at him. “Good morning to you, too. You catch any worms?”

Daichi’s head did a little tilt. “What?”

“You know. Because you’re an early bird.”

Ah. It really was amazing, how Suga could put him at ease with a bit of well-timed absurdity. “Sugawara… I didn’t think it was possible, but your jokes are getting lamer.”

“Shut up and make tea,” Suga said, and tossed him a thermos filled with hot water. 

Daichi did as he was told, and offered a cup of tea to Suga before sitting down next to him with his own. He stretched out his legs in front of the fire, tapping his toes together as they sipped away.

“How’d you sleep?” Suga asked him, and he choked on his drink. 

“Great! Good. H-how about you?”

“For some reason, I wasn’t cold at all during the night. It was so cozy! But when I woke up I was freezing.”

“Your body temperature is supposed to go down while you sleep,” Daichi said, hiding his face behind his cup, though Suga didn’t look like he suspected anything. 

“Yeah. I guess so.” Suga jammed the stick he was holding into the ground and rubbed it between his palms, drilling a hole into the dirt between his feet. “How was your run?”

“I think I ended up on the only flat trail on the mountain. But there are a lot of other ones that go up to the summit. We should go on a hike later. Don’t give me that face,” Daichi said, elbowing him in the ribs. “Aren’t you an athlete?”

“It’s not that… I just know it’s going to be so hot later today… Oh!” Suga knocked his fist into his open hand. “There’s a little river near here, you probably saw it. We should go!”

Daichi liked the sound of that. Clean water under a blazing sun, lunch with their legs dangling over the stream, and light catching on pale, bare, wet skin.

He cleared his throat. “Hey, you know what we should do before any of that?”

“Find a place to practice that isn’t near a cliff?” As usual Suga could be depended on to know what he was thinking. Just not everything, thankfully.

“Exactly.”

— 

They ended up trekking down to the valley, towing Daichi’s volleyball and what was left of their breakfast along the trail.

The path was winding and steep and almost completely shut out of the sunlight by the thick green canopy, so the ground was damp and the moss grew freely. They played rock, paper, scissors to decide who would go first over each rotting wooden bridge, then went at the same time anyway. Daichi offered his hand at the first shallow stream with a teasing “Your Highness,” but then held tight as he stepped over the surprisingly slippery stones sticking out of the water, careful to find a sturdy path for Suga to follow. At the third crossing, Suga’s hand found his automatically, and Daichi pulled him along wordlessly, gaze forward, eyes low, face hot.  
Eventually they found a clearing among the trees, grassy and flat, so perfect Daichi was sure if they tried looking for it again the next day, it would be gone.

“What do you mean?” Suga asked. He moved to the center of the clearing and bumped the ball straight up, then darted back a dozen feet so Daichi could move in and do the same. In and out, like a wave, keeping the ball rising and falling on a single axis.

“You know, like magic. Maybe there’s a forest spirit out here who likes volleyball, so he set aside some space so we could play today.”

When Suga laughed, Daichi knew it was at him, but he couldn’t help smiling. “What’s so funny?”

“A forest spirit that likes volleyball?”

“Well, maybe he doesn’t know it’s called ‘volleyball’. Maybe he just thinks it looks fun.”

“I didn’t know you believed in stuff like that. It’s cute.”

The ball fell straight down, bounced off of Daichi’s sneaker and hit him hard enough against his chin to throw his head back, effectively ending their drill. Suga, really a kind and nurturing young man, laughed even harder.

But then there was a gentle hand on Daichi’s jaw, tilting it this and that way. “Doesn’t look bruised,” Suga said, holding the offending ball under his other arm. “Do you know where we are?”

“Um… outside?”

“Not funny.”

“You laughed first!”

“I know,” Suga said, with a small smile. “Sorry. Are you okay?” His voice was soft and serious, and his hand hadn’t left Daichi’s chin. 

“... Yeah. I’m okay. It was my fault anyway.”

Another moment passed like the one from the night before, after Daichi had helped Suga with his jacket. Then Suga let go of him and returned to the other side of the clearing, juggling the ball from one hand to the other. He looked a little anxious—but since when had Daichi been able to tell how he was feeling just by staring at his back?

“Hey, Suga—”  _ Hey Suga, what’s wrong? Hey Suga, is it bothering you, too? _

“Hm?” Suga turned around, and nothing was wrong, and nothing was bothering him.

“Oh…” Daichi guessed he was just tired. They’d been up pretty early, and now they were filthy from diving in the grass. “Never mind.”

And the rest of the day passed peacefully by. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi im sorry i never got that update to yall, im afflicted with Never Being Happy With What I Create but here are the (sadly very short) fruits of my latest attempts to force myself into stopping being affected by that, haha. thank you for your patience and feedback! it means a lot.


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